Honestly, if his attention had not been drawn to Kaido from the very beginning, and if the three of them had not been standing behind Kaido the whole time, Zayn would have noticed these three stunning little girls immediately.
"Eh—?! You three little ones are Kaido's daughters? No, no, there's no way that guy Kaido could have such adorable daughters!"
"My name is Ra, and these two are my younger sisters, Osiris and Obelisk.
The three of us are newcomers who just joined the Beasts Pirates. As future colleagues, please take care of us, Mr. Zayn."
Ra smiled and gave Zayn a slight nod, every bit the picture of poised and proper elegance.
So, so cute! Her voice is so lovely too! And she's incredibly polite! Could she be some country's princess?
It would be great if my boy found a woman like this someday~ Ra's looks and manners instantly won over this man who was already a father.
"What a polite young lady. How about Uncle takes you three somewhere nice to eat? Uncle knows this place very well~"
"Hey, creepy old man! Could you stop looking at us with those sleazy eyes?
Sister Ra is just being polite. Don't push your luck!" Oshi was thoroughly displeased by Zayn's gaze.
"Oshi, it's already quite an achievement for this strange uncle to keep trying so hard to live with a face like that. We shouldn't be too harsh on him." Obe added sarcastically.
"You, you two little brats..."
"Alright, you two, be more polite. Mr. Zayn, I'm sorry my two younger sisters were rude." Seeing Zayn's awkward expression, Ra stepped in to smooth things over.
"Are you heading back to the laboratory? Could we come in and have a look, if you don't mind?"
"It's fine, it's fine... They're just children~" Ra's words seemed to possess some kind of magic, instantly dispelling more than half of Zayn's anger.
Thinking that any little brats invited by Kaido could not be ordinary, he did not press the matter any further.
"Hmph~ Since your sister put it that way, I won't lower myself to argue with you two little brats!"
"Tch, like I care!" Oshi said with her arms crossed.
Obe, on the other hand, said nothing more. She was probably interested in this so-called weapons laboratory.
"Come with me. I'll broaden you two little brats' horizons." Zayn led the three little ones back into the tunnel.
"Huh? We're just leaving Boss Kaido there without caring about him?" Oshi still was not used to Kaido's habit of 'falling asleep the moment he lay down' and was somewhat worried about him.
"Don't worry. Even asleep, no one on this island can hurt Kaido." Zayn knew Kaido's physical toughness very well.
"Captain Kaido has traveled for so long. Let him rest properly here for a while," Ra said, equally unconcerned about Kaido's safety.
"Ta-da~ So, what do you think? This is Lord Zayn's weapons laboratory.
From ordinary firearms to laser weapons and biological weapons, this place has everything. I invented all of it myself." Zayn pointed at the laboratory packed with all kinds of weapons.
"Wow! I didn't expect you, creepy old man, to actually have some skills~ Pew pew pew~" Oshi immediately picked up something resembling a pistol and played with it curiously.
"Don't call me creepy old man. I'm clearly devastatingly handsome. Let me tell you, the women who like me could circle the Grand Line!"
"Confidence is a good thing, but it's fine to fool other people. Just don't fool yourself too."
"What exactly is the structure of these weapons?" Blue-themed Obe was clearly very interested in them.
"Hey~ Don't break that. That's one of my proudest creations. Even Vegapunk hasn't mastered it, and I was planning to install it on myself someday." Seeing that Obe seemed ready to take the thing apart, Zayn hurriedly stopped her.
"Hmph↑ They're just a pile of toys for fooling children. I don't care about them." With that, she quickly reassembled the emitter exactly as it had been.
"Oh? You blue-haired girl have some real talent. How about coming to work for me as my assistant?" Watching Obe's smooth, effortless movements, Zayn felt that this blue-haired little girl had a gift in this area.
"I refuse! I don't need to follow you. With my talent, I'll definitely design weapons better than these in the future." Obe refused without hesitation.
"Hahahaha, what an arrogant little brat. Then I'll wait for that day."
Zayn did not mind being rejected and continued packing up his experimental equipment.
"Hm? Mr. Zayn, you're packing things up. Are you leaving?"
"That's right. I only came here to test new weapons and gather experimental data along the way. Now that it's done, it's time to leave."
"We'll help you."
Zayn had wanted to refuse, because there were many precision instruments here that could be damaged with the slightest carelessness. Yet Ra's voice seemed to carry magic, and somehow, he agreed.
Having received his permission, Ra efficiently sorted and packed the instruments and materials in the laboratory. Her speed left Zayn staring wide-eyed.
"All done. Please see if there's anything we missed?" Three large bundles were piled before Zayn, each marked with labels.
"N-no, there isn't."
Zayn stared blankly at the bundles before him. They seemed to have been meticulously calculated, perfectly using every inch of space to reduce their volume to the limit without damaging the equipment inside.
This is bad! Really bad! Do adorable, well-behaved, polite, and incredibly capable little girls like this really exist?
Aaah~ Why do I suddenly want a daughter?! What is this?!
"The rest are large machines and workbenches that are difficult to move. To keep things confidential, I'll just blow them up later." Zayn led the group back into the tunnel before saying this.
"If they need to be destroyed, there's no need to go through so much trouble, Mr. Zayn."
Ra stretched out a finger and lightly tapped the air. Golden flames instantly filled the entire laboratory.
Less than a second after appearing, the golden flames vanished, leaving behind untouched walls and floors, along with an utterly empty laboratory.
"Hiss~"
Zayn sucked in a breath. The slightly elevated temperature instantly dropped several degrees.
Ra's sudden move had completely caught him off guard and truly frightened him.
It felt like a cat he had been petting suddenly transformed into a Flerken and swallowed several aliens whole right in front of him.
I never expected this blonde little girl, who had been so courteous and soft-spoken the whole time, to be the scariest one.
No wonder those other two smug little brats were so obedient around her! And those burns on Kaido's body—could they have been caused by this little girl too?
Zayn recalled the obviously freshly healed burn marks on Kaido's body and found the possibility more and more likely the more he thought about it.
After all, Kaido was not some kind old man who picked up children everywhere. Anyone he took a liking to was no ordinary character.
It's over, it's over, it's over. I didn't say anything excessive to this little girl just now, did I? I didn't, right? I didn't, right? As Zayn watched Ra's back, cold sweat began to bead on his forehead.
"Are you feeling unwell, Mr. Zayn? I see you're sweating a lot. Is the luggage too heavy?"
"Do you need us to carry some more for you?" Ra noticed Zayn's odd behavior and asked with concern.
"Eek!"
Ra's sudden words made Zayn jolt.
"N-no, no, no need, no need, no need! Miss Ra, I'm fine! You, you don't need to worry about me!"
"Mr. Zayn?"
"Z-Zayn! Just call me Zayn! No need for honorifics. We're colleagues from now on, haha, hahaha~"
"Alright, but you don't need to be so polite either. Just call me Ra."
"O-okay. We'll be companions from now on. Please, please take care of me. Ha, hahaha~"
The moment Zayn boarded the ship, he eagerly untied the mooring ropes and raised the sails, ready to leave.
His movements were so smooth and practiced that one could not help wondering whether he had once been a sailor.
After the ship had sailed some distance from the shore, the three girls standing on the beach finally saw Zayn stick his head out to bid them farewell.
"Haha~ Obe, look! That creepy old man was so scared by Sister Ra that he only dared to stick out his head like a mole~" Oshi waved back while teasing him.
"He's a bit strange, but the weapons he makes are pretty good~ Back on Earth, I'd never seen a true laser gun." Obe was clearly very interested in the weapons she had just seen.
"Let's go. While Captain Kaido is asleep, let's take a look around the streets and see what everyday life in this world is really like."
Seeing that golden head shrink back again in the distance, Ra lowered her hand and prepared to leave.
"Okay~" *2
Half an hour later, the three returned in disappointment.
Because of Kaido's sudden attack, the island was still in a state of chaos and heightened alert. Most shops were closed as well, forcing the three, who had wanted to experience the customs of another world, to cut their outing short and return to Kaido.
"You three little brats are back?"
Kaido had already woken up. He sat atop a treasure chest, drinking, while many more identical chests were scattered around him. Several stood open, revealing that they were filled to the brim with Berries.
"What's this?"
"A group calling themselves the resistance sent them over. They said it was to thank me for killing their king. Heh~ What a bunch of boring idiots." Kaido did not seem impressed by these resistance fighters.
"That guy Zayn left?"
"Mhm."
"Then we should head back too."
"Huh? So soon? We haven't even eaten yet!" Oshi complained while clutching her stomach.
"On the way back, we'll find a warship and settle it there."
"Huh? A warship? Why a war—"
Before Oshi could finish, Kaido swept the three girls onto a Flame Cloud and soared away...
Before you continue